keestha

Insurance is always valid in all of Thailand. They just don't want to go through the hassle of having to go somewhere outside Phuket to deal with the consequences of an accident or mechanical failure. International companies like Avis are expensive, try one of the rental outlets close to the airport.

Keep the sky water legend alive.

Confusion. Chiang Khong is in Chiang Rai province, and Chiang Khan is in Loei province, right at the Maekhong opposite Laos, but no border crossing there.

I have to replace the submersible pump about every 3 years (15 room hotel + restaurant, laundry done in house, so heavy usage). A small extra pump above ground serves as the necessary back-up in case the main pump has to be replaced. I also use an extra pump in between the water tanks and the main water pipe, which switches on whenever water is used, so that there is enough water pressure.

As Hans Gruber stated, the well has to be cleaned sometimes.

This morning I received a mail inviting me to freely submit a listing for my business at PhuketRatings.com, a new business directory for Phuket, Phangnga and Krabi. Of course I duly registered, highly questionable if it will ever bring me a single extra Baht of turnover, but as the saying in my native language goes: "You never know how a cow catches a hare". Not the first time I register for something like this, people keep on trying. Could be of marginal interest for Phuket etc. business owners.

Not a Phuket exclusively phenomena. For a very long time, a low budget Bangkok - Tokyo flight has been cheaper than the taxi fare from Tokyo Airport to the downtown.

Placebo effect?

Big rain front apparently, just had 5 minutes of rain in Khao Lak.

Nothing either. I remember back in 2004 after the tsunami struck, quite a few people in Khao Lak reported having felt an earthquake and/or seen its effects, like a table wobbling, before the event. Myself I noticed nothing, though I was definitely up and about. I have been wondering if it maybe depends on the consistency of the ground you are standing on, like the layer of sand before you hit rock being deep or shallow.

Maybe an earthquake experienced person from an area like California/USA could chip in.

High tourism season slowly tapering off, will reflect on the traffic situation all over the island.

Room prices can only be so low because the real income from the guesthouses comes from selling tours.

Heart of the matter is that if you are stuck with garbage the municipality will not collect, like when you are doing a building project, your only options are to burn it if possible, which is illegal at least in residential areas, or to dump it somewhere illegally. You can pay somebody to take it away, but he will also dump it illegally someplace.

In many out of the way places I saw signs saying in Thai:" forbidden to throw away garbage", obviously the land owner is afraid somebody will discard his stuff there, others see it laying there and follow suit, and in no time it will have become a full blown garbage dump.

Tourist police? Can anybody explain me what exactly the responsibilities of the tourist police force are? Always assumed it was their task to assist tourists, not to apprehend foreign nationals violating labor or immigration laws, or am I wrong?

Khao Lak / day before yesterday, drove the car through massive black smoke, fire somewhere, probably just grass. Today again saw a fire brigade car, lights flashing. Not very reassuring the fire brigade has to come from Takua Pa, 30 km from here. The waterfalls only have a trickle of water. Getting worried about water supply, big hotels pulling water massively, many of them using deep wells, being not connected to the public water system, and still full blown high season tourist quantity. Last time I witnessed a similar situation here was in 2001.

Don't know if there are minibuses to Khao Lak at the airport.

Best option would probably be to make your way to the main road, and catch the bus to Khao lak from there.

Definitely no minivan from the airport to Khao Lak, also no bus. Follow the suggestion above, or take a taxi from the airport, should set you back about 1200 Baht

By the way consider going to the Surin islands instead of to the hopelessly overcrowded Similans,

Where would it be possible to get nautical charts of the waters around Phuket, Phangnga and Ranong?

Exchanging a currency like the Baht which cannot be considered a hard currency, you always get a very bad rate overseas. Only in the neighboring countries they will give a credible rate for Thai Baht.

In the Bangkok Post there are always many small ads offering overseas packages, like for instance long weekends in Japan, but also to Europe and other destinations.

My personal impression is that the literacy situation has improved. During my beginning years in Thailand, early nineties, many young people, like for instance girls working in the bars, were illiterate. Nowadays I think it is more a matter of people at least over 40. Of course there are always people falling through the cracks of the education system, also about 3% of born and bred Dutch citizens are illiterate.

Take a bus to Surat Thani, and ask to be let off at the Lompraya terminal. Busses to the pier which connect with the speedboat leave at 09.00 and 14.30.

Insurance won't be paying that claim.

Abusing the car isn't in any policy I've seen.

Not sure. When insuring a car in Thailand for the first time, I inquired if they would also pay if I would drive the car into a tree when drunk, and they said yes. But then, they were in the process of selling me something.

When my car was wrecked in the 2004 tsunami, they paid up, not all insurance companies did. After that I bought a second hand car, which after one and a half years burned out because of faulty wiring. Again they paid up, but they told we I wouldn't be accepted as a customer anymore.

Booking through one of those systems is less sure than booking at the hotel itself. Whoever handles the booking system of the hotel, has to be very careful: If the hotel has no more availability for a certain period, the hotel has to be taken out of Agoda or whatever for that period. Often people forget to do this, the customer makes a booking, maybe pays, and gets a nice confirmed booking which he prints out, but once at the hotel he will be told the place is overbooked.

I strongly advise that you as a foreigner do not undertake any eradication attempts yourself. People will find out and not exactly applaud. Do you have a Thai wife? She could draft a letter requesting the local authorities (OrBorTor/อ.บ.ต.) to do something about it, then go around collecting signatures, present the letter, and maybe they will indeed do something.

Buddhism prohibits the killing of animals if you are not planning on eating them. But in tourist areas, if business owners suspect stray dogs may cause customers to stay away, they will lay out like poisoned tuna steak. Money is often stronger than religion.